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Avg: 4.5 (120 ratings)
- Date Released: May 24, 2005
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Punk, Emo
- Label: Vagrant Records
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We Say...
The Alkaline Trio originally cut their collective teeth by playing the only four chords they knew on albums like 1998's Goddamnit and 2000's Maybe I'll Catch Fire — messy and anthemic portraits of life by, for and about young punks with bitter, if not always broken, hearts. Crimson is the threesome's fifth album and their first since they found it necessary to add a fourth musician for live shows. It's the sound of the Trio aging gracefully, a work so fully developed that it makes those early records sound like demos. Here, the band's core members — singer-guitarist Matt Skiba, singer-bassist Dan Andriano and powerhouse drummer Derek Grant — confidently absorb the heavy-handed production that A-list producer Jerry Finn has manufactured for them; their edgy punk stands unmarred by all those synths, strings and misty, dramatic pianos. The once simple, mid-tempo "Sadie," released a year earlier on a split EP with fellow road dogs One Man Army, is re-imagined on Crimson as an epic new wave ballad, further asserting their grasp of the goth-pop influences that later Trio records like 2003's Good Mourning merely hinted at. With a record as defiantly mature as Crimson, it would have been forgivable if the Trio lost some of their trademark sound; better yet, they simply refined it.
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They Say...
Crimson is the best next step for Alkaline Trio. It keeps Good Mourning's blacks and reds and crack melodic sense. But it's also much more accessible with its measured aggression, rich piano (courtesy of Jellyfish and studio veteran Roger Manning), and production from Jerry Finn, who's worked with blink-182 and the very-relevant-to-Alkaline Trio Jawbreaker. Like those groups Alkaline Trio has grown away from punk-pop; they've grown up. On 1998's Goddamnit!, Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano let out rowdy "woah-woahs" and wished things like "I wanna wake up naked next to you." But then that happened, and the other side of the bed wasn't as pretty. By Mourning they were dealing with death metaphors and painful levels of self-medication. Crimson has a similar sense of emotional brokenness, but things never get so heavy that you'll need the goth eyeliner -- the album's pop sense glimmers steadily beneath its dour shroud. "Poison" and "Time to Waste" downshift into powerful choruses despite lines about dead eyes and meaninglessness, "Mercy Me" and "Dethbed" rock self-hate and cynicism over propulsive beats, and "Prevent This Tragedy" incorporates a keyboard descent that's a perfectly pretty foil for a line like "the flames of hell they give me hope." As great as Alkaline Trio are at relating their booze and blood-spattered lives to listeners, it does get a little tedious. But Skiba and Andriano's interlocking harmonies never flag, and the band's rhythms are just too catchy throughout. Let's see. They're writing smart, bright, punk-derived pop, but they're black and white and blocky-featured, and they like Depeche Mode much more than Duran Duran. That settles it -- Alkaline Trio are the bizarro-world Killers.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Time To Waste |
4:12 |  |
| 02. | |
The Poison |
2:04 | |
| 03. | |
Burn |
4:05 | |
| 04. | |
Mercy Me |
2:49 | |
| 05. | |
Dethbed |
3:03 | |
| 06. | |
Settle For Satin |
3:49 | |
| 07. | |
Sadie |
4:39 | |
| 08. | |
Fall Victim |
3:18 | |
| 09. | |
I Was A Prayer |
2:36 | |
| 10. | |
Prevent This Tragedy |
3:06 | |
| 11. | |
Back To Hell |
2:54 | |
| 12. | |
Your Neck |
3:15 | |
| 13. | |
Smoke |
2:59 | |
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Credits
- Warren Fitzgerald - String Arrangements // Jerry Finn - Producer // Jerry Finn - Mixing // Dave Collins - Mastering // Ryan Hewitt - Engineer // Derek Grant - Drums // Derek Grant - Vocals // Matt Skiba - Guitar // Matt Skiba - Vocals // Keith Schubert - Drum Technician // Daniel Andriano - Guitar (Bass) // Daniel Andriano - Vocals // David Raccuglia - Photography // Seth Waldmann - Assistant // Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - Piano // Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - Keyboards // Heather Hannoura - Art Direction // Heather Hannoura - Spoken Word // Sista Monica Parker - Stylist // Sista Monica Parker - Set Design // Nolan McGuire - Guitar // Tyson Thorne - Art Direction
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